DOCSLIB.ORG

©2009 Edgar Rivera Colón ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
©2009 Edgar Rivera Colón ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©2009 Edgar Rivera Colón ALL RIGHTS RESERVED GETTING LIFE IN TWO WORLDS: POWER AND PREVENTION IN THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSE BALL COMMUNITY by EDGAR RIVERA COLÓN A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Anthropology Written under the direction of Professor Louisa Schein And approved by __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May, 2009 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Getting Life in Two Worlds: Power and Prevention in the New York City House Ball Community By EDGAR RIVERA COLÓN Dissertation Director: Dr. Louisa Schein This dissertation project is an ethnographic study of the House Ballroom community in New York City. The House Ballroom community is a Black and Latino/a queer and transgender alternative kinship system and dance performance circuit. Specifically, it follows the lives of HIV prevention workers who are deeply embedded in House Ballroom social networks. Based on four years of anthropological fieldwork, I document the way that these community activists fashion meaningful lives in the meeting point between the Ballroom world and the HIV prevention not-for-profit organizations in New York City. It is also an ethnography of the productive failure of the gay and lesbian movement's inability to include working class Black and Latino/a queer communities in developing a political infrastructure to combat HIV/AIDS in New York City. My informants have helped to develop an alternative civil and political infrastructure by combining material and symbolic resources found in the HIV prevention not-for-profit ii organizations and the House Ballroom community. This ethnography documents and analyzes the lives that these House Ballroom prevention activists have forged and the work of political love that animates their professional and Ballroom communities. iii iv Acknowledgements The authorial conceit implicit in Western literary and social scientific canons individuates what are always already collective social products: texts. This ethnographic text is a relentlessly collective act of materialization. Therefore, I have many debts to my fellow co-workers in the vineyard of the word and the deed that I must recognize not only because ethical considerations compel me, but also for the sheer pleasure of recognizing the motley communities that have loved this dissertation into existence. First and foremost, I must recognize my dissertation committee whose heroic patience and intellectual rigor challenged me to take myself as seriously as I took my research subjects. Louisa Schein, my committee chair, has been a mentor par excellence. Her brilliance, invariable faith in my project, and her willingness to see me as a fellow interlocutor in array of intellectual efforts opened up the space for me to undertake this project in my rather meandering and idiosyncratic mode of proceeding. Louisa saved this project from oblivion on many occasions --- even when I thought that oblivion might be a proper fate for this effort. I will never forget those moments: they are true gifts of the Spirit. For these multiple acts of generosity, she remains the “mother” of my academic house --- whether she wants to be or not. Peter Guarnaccia, the medical anthropologist on my committee, is one of most grounded and decent persons I have ever met. His consummate professionalism, long- term commitment to a politically engaged ethnographic practice, and congenital optimism have been invaluable contributions to my growth as a scholar and community researcher. Peter has never failed to ask the difficult and paradigm-shaking question at v the right moment. I indebted to him for fulfilling this role in my research process and write up period. I am deeply gratified to call him the “father” of my academic house. Ana Yolanda Ramos-Zayas has been a great intellectual resource for me as she shared her wealth of experience and insight with me as a leading Latina ethnographer of Puerto Rican communities in the United States. Ana’s unshakable faith in me as a person and an intellectual has sustained me through the most difficult periods of this process. I have also benefited greatly from Ana’s political clarity and her unwillingness to tolerate reactionary foolishness gladly. It is good to know that I am not the only “ultra-leftist” in the contemporary U.S. academy. Truly, she is my sister-in-arms in “la lucha que nunca cesa.” Carlos U. Decena was the last person to join my committee, but his late arrival in no way attenuated his enormous contributions to this project as an interdisciplinary scholar, an ethnographer of queer Dominicans in the United States, and a fellow HIV/AIDS community researcher. Carlos is one of the sharpest minds I have encountered and his enthusiasm for really thinking through a problem is simply infectious in a very productive way. Carlos is one of my favorite persons to “think with” (to echo Levi- Strauss a bit) and he has quickly become a great friend and comrade as well. Quite simply, he has been a luminous presence in my thinking and writing. I have been lucky beyond reason to have had the good fortune to have assembled such a committee and look forward to repaying their efforts in lasting friendship, admiration, and a life of engaged scholarly and community research. vi Throughout my years as a graduate student in New Brunswick, I had the privilege of being formed by a hosts of scholars whose thoughts and perspectives inform the better insights found in this dissertation. I can only list them briefly here, but they should know my true gratitude for their ideas and great affection for them as persons and intellectuals. In the Anthropology Department, besides the members in my committee who are anthropologists, I have the following two persons to thank: Dorothy Hodgson and Michael Moffat. Outside the department, I am deeply indebted to the following persons for their instruction and guidance: Cheryl Clarke, Ed Cohen, Bruce Robbins, Nancy Hartsock, Leela Fernandes, Ben Sifuentes-Jauregui, Neil Smith, Abena Busia, and David Eng. I have to make special note of Caridad Souza who opened up the world of feminist of color thinking and practice for me and has remained a true friend and fellow-traveler in the ways of discerning the world-making “agape” at the center of the logos. Ashé, my sister, ashé. During my time in New Brunswick, I had the opportunity of teaching a number of years in the Department of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies first as a lecturer and later as a full-time instructor. Latino Studies really became my second home and I am deeply indebted to the professional formation process that it afforded me. I must thank Aldo Lauria Santiago, the Chair, for his sage advice in negotiating the challenges of graduate school and his culturally appropriate and constant admonitions to me that getting the PhD was only a “union card” and that “I should get on with it already.” Aldo has transformed Latino Studies at Rutgers and many students and faculty will benefit in the years to come from his hard work and clear-sighted leadership capabilities. I was glad to be a witness to this process. My colleagues at Latino studies were a great interlocutors vii and work companions. I am indebted to Ulla Berg (“la danesa maravillosa”), Milagros Denis (“la doctora”), Jose Morales (“el maestro mayor”), Zaire Dinzey-Flores, Ana Yolanda Ramos-Zayas, and Carlos U. Decena (especially for our weekly strolls on Livingston’s invisible “promenade”). Latino Studies at Rutgers-New Brunswick has been blessed with administrators that go beyond the call of duty. Monica Licort was always generous to me and created a calm, peaceful environment despite the enormous work load and lack of resources we all faced on a daily basis. I always enjoyed and benefited from our numerous spiritual conversations. After her tenure, Sarah O’Meara Gonzalez took the reins in her hands and continued the tradition of efficiency and care that Monica had initiated. I especially want to thank Sarah for tolerating my constant pilfering of her chocolate supplies and our conference room lunch conversations which ran the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous. The students I had the privilege of teaching were open-minded, kind, diligent, and ready to think something new. I hope they found something useful in my teaching to carry them through “the long march through the institutions” that professional life after college entails and that “they fight the good fight” for their communities of concern. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am embedded deeply in kinship networks of various kinds. I have been nourished and sustained by all my kin throughout my course work, field research, and writing process. My parents, Luis. A. Rivera Caratini and Mercedes Rivera Morales have loved me despite not quite understanding why I had to spend so much time in school and what all that research I was doing had to do with making a living. My folks are factory people and those experiences have formed my own viii personal and political commitments. They taught me early and well that no one lives or dies alone in this world and that we all best get to the business of being together before things really falls apart. Their ethical clarity, community orientation, and willingness to always add another one of my friends or lovers into “la familia” has allowed me to grow and be generous with my time, friendship, and love. I am very glad to be their son and to continue these traditions into the future. My sister, Lillian Rivera, and her wife, Elsa Vazquez, and their daughter, Olivia Rivera-Vazquez, have been there for me in and out of season.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Family, Relationships, and Connections
    FAMILY, RELATIONSHIPS, AND CONNECTIONS June 2021 Edition Three CONTENTS 3 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 16 EAST AND WEST GERMANY: REJOINED BUT Jenny Speakman NOT UNITED 4 TEACHING HISTORY IN 2020-21 Alfie Coulstock-Cockeram Dr Alex Bamji 17 AN AMERICAN DYNASTY: THE KENNEDYS 5 ALL IN THE FAMILY: THE CRUSADES AND Esmee Fitton KINSHIP 18 AN AMERICAN DYNASTY: THE BUSHES Harriet Purbrick Esmee Fitton 6 THE DECAMERON: WOMEN’S LOOKS AND 19 HOUSES IN NEW YORK’S LGBTQ+ CHARACTER IN BOCCACCIO’S BALLROOM CULTURE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY FLORENTINE NOVEL Aisling Lantorp Quinty Uitman 20 ‘CASH FOR CLASS’: THE AMERICAN HEIRESSES THAT SAVED THE BRITISH 8 LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: THE LIVES ARISTOCRACY AND WORKS OF MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND MARY SHELLEY George Helliwell Rebecca Nimmo 21 “YOU ARE A BAD PERSON. THE CHINESE POLICE ARE GOOD PEOPLE.” FAMILIAL 10 LEVERAGING SEPARATION AND CULTURAL ERASURE IN MOTHERHOOD: BLACK WOMEN’S XINJIANG ACTION IN THE POST- EMANCIPATION CARIBBEAN Luke Anderson Amelia Wood 22 MRS HINCH: LIBERATING OR OPPRESSIVE? 11 THE FATEFUL STORY OF THE DONNER Bethany Keyte PARTY 23 “HE HAS ALSO RUINED MY LIFE, SO I CAN’T Georgie Burgess HELP LOVING HIM”: THE QUEER HISTORY OF LOVE THROUGH WRITTEN WORD 12 ‘THE LONELIEST OF ALL THE TOMMIES?’: THE SOCIAL TREATMENT OF Liv Casapieri DISFIGURED FIRST WORLD WAR VETERANS 24 THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: QUEER Hannah Taylor COMMUNAL LIVING AND ALTERNATIVE FAMILY 13 MEN NOT NUMBERS Becca Iliffe Ted Parkinson 25 WHAT DOES THE HISTORIC DECLINE OF 14 THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY DURING THE THE UK HIGH STREET MEAN FOR SOCIETY? BLITZ: AN INTERVIEW WITH MY GRANDPARENTS Evan Holt Lottie Almey 26 HELLO FROM HISTSOC 15 PART OF THE FAMILY: HOW TV CHANGED Megan Glanville THE IMAGE OF THE FAMILY IDEAL IN POST- WAR AMERICA A THANK YOU TO THE TEAM OF ASSISTANT Henna Ravjibhai EDITORS FOR ISSUE 3 2020/21 2 Hyde Park, Leeds | Bryony Eacott | BryonyEacott | Leeds| Flickr Park, Hyde FAMILY, RELATIONSHIPS, AND CONNECTIONS Hyde Park, Leeds.
    [Show full text]
  • Crossdressing Cinema: an Analysis of Transgender
    CROSSDRESSING CINEMA: AN ANALYSIS OF TRANSGENDER REPRESENTATION IN FILM A Dissertation by JEREMY RUSSELL MILLER Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2012 Major Subject: Communication CROSSDRESSING CINEMA: AN ANALYSIS OF TRANSGENDER REPRESENTATION IN FILM A Dissertation by JEREMY RUSSELL MILLER Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Co-Chairs of Committee, Josh Heuman Aisha Durham Committee Members, Kristan Poirot Terence Hoagwood Head of Department, James A. Aune August 2012 Major Subject: Communication iii ABSTRACT Crossdressing Cinema: An Analysis of Transgender Representation in Film. (August 2012) Jeremy Russell Miller, B.A., University of Arkansas; M.A., University of Arkansas Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Joshua Heuman Dr. Aisha Durham Transgender representations generally distance the transgender characters from the audience as objects of ridicule, fear, and sympathy. This distancing is accomplished through the use of specific narrative conventions and visual codes. In this dissertation, I analyze representations of transgender individuals in popular film comedies, thrillers, and independent dramas. Through a textual analysis of 24 films, I argue that the narrative conventions and visual codes of the films work to prevent identification or connection between the transgender characters and the audience. The purpose of this distancing is to privilege the heteronormative identities of the characters over their transgender identities. This dissertation is grounded in a cultural studies approach to representation as constitutive and constraining and a positional approach to gender that views gender identity as a position taken in a specific social context.
    [Show full text]
  • EDM (Dance Music): Disco, Techno, House, Raves… ANTHRO 106 2018
    EDM (Dance Music): Disco, Techno, House, Raves… ANTHRO 106 2018 Rebellion, genre, drugs, freedom, unity, sex, technology, place, community …………………. Disco • Disco marked the dawn of dance-based popular music. • Growing out of the increasingly groove-oriented sound of early '70s and funk, disco emphasized the beat above anything else, even the singer and the song. • Disco was named after discotheques, clubs that played nothing but music for dancing. • Most of the discotheques were gay clubs in New York • The seventies witnessed the flowering of gay clubbing, especially in New York. For the gay community in this decade, clubbing became 'a religion, a release, a way of life'. The camp, glam impulses behind the upsurge in gay clubbing influenced the image of disco in the mid-Seventies so much that it was often perceived as the preserve of three constituencies - blacks, gays and working-class women - all of whom were even less well represented in the upper echelons of rock criticism than they were in society at large. • Before the word disco existed, the phrase discotheque records was used to denote music played in New York private rent or after hours parties like the Loft and Better Days. The records played there were a mixture of funk, soul and European imports. These "proto disco" records are the same kind of records that were played by Kool Herc on the early hip hop scene. - STARS and CLUBS • Larry Levan was the first DJ-star and stands at the crossroads of disco, house and garage. He was the legendary DJ who for more than 10 years held court at the New York night club Paradise Garage.
    [Show full text]
  • The Decline of New York City Nightlife Culture Since the Late 1980S
    1 Clubbed to Death: The Decline of New York City Nightlife Culture Since the Late 1980s Senior Thesis by Whitney Wei Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of BA Economic and Social History Barnard College of Columbia University New York, New York 2015 2 ii. Contents iii. Acknowledgement iv. Abstract v. List of Tables vi. List of Figures I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………7 II. The Limelight…………………………………………………………………12 III. After Dark…………………………………………………………………….21 a. AIDS Epidemic Strikes Clubland……………………..13 b. Gentrification: Early and Late………………………….27 c. The Impact of Gentrification to Industry Livelihood…32 IV. Clubbed to Death …………………………………………………………….35 a. 1989 Zoning Changes to Entertainment Venues…………………………36 b. Scandal, Vilification, and Disorder……………………………………….45 c. Rudy Giuliani and Criminalization of Nightlife………………………….53 V. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………60 VI. Bibliography………………………………………………………………..…61 3 Acknowledgement I would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Alan Dye for his wise guidance during this thesis process. Having such a supportive advisor has proven indispensable to the quality of this work. A special thank you to Ian Sinclair of NYC Planning for providing key zoning documents and patient explanations. Finally, I would like to thank the support and contributions of my peers in the Economic and Social History Senior Thesis class. 4 Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact of city policy changes and the processes of gentrification on 1980s nightlife subculture in New York City. What are important to this work are the contributions and influence of nightlife subculture to greater New York City history through fashion, music, and art. I intend to prove that, in combination with the city’s gradual revanchism of neighborhood properties, the self-destructive nature of this after-hours sector has led to its own demise.
    [Show full text]
  • 5197-Edge13 MARCH 2006
    The Strokes boxing clever In this Issue: e Ministry of Sound, Singapore e Virtually Frank Sinatra e Kanye West & Chris Rea e Icebar & Living Room W1 Issue 13 March 2006 The Martin Experience www.martin-audio.com right at the cutting EDGE THE EDGE An earlier than usual edition of The Edge this spring sees us publishing our biggest-ever issue in time for the NSCA Exhibition in Las Vegas. It’s a win-win situation as this then enables us to reach visitors at the hugely influential Pro Light+Sound Frankfurt at the end of the month, with arguably the most important edition of The Edge we have yet published. Rich in coverage from North America, we are also proud to bring you some groundbreaking stories from around the world. In the hierarchy of pro audio installs little causes as much excitement as projects undertaken by Steve Dash (Integral Sound) and Austen Derek (Aurateq) — particularly to any of us old enough and fortunate enough to have experienced the original Richard Long sound system at Paradise Garage nearly 30 years ago. Therefore your first port of call should be to page 6 where the new 3,360-capacity Ministry of Sound in Singapore is awash with Martin Audio components specified by these master technicians. On the domestic front we have been kept busy covering The Strokes (with Capital Sound), Chris Rea (with RG Jones) and the new ‘Virtual’ Frank Sinatra season (with Autograph Sound) who have used our equipment as their main PA arrays at the London Palladium. Working from reclaimed archives, the show has presented a major restoration and time-coding challenge as the Sinatra voice is ‘synced’ to a live 24-piece orchestra and 35mm footage appears on nine different moving projection displays.
    [Show full text]
  • Stardigio Program
    スターデジオ チャンネル:４５０ 洋楽アーティスト特集 放送日：２０１９/１２/０９～２０１９/１２/１５ ｢番組案内 （８時間サイクル）｣ 開始時間：4：00～/12：00～/20：00～ 楽曲タイトル 演奏者名 ■KISS 特集 (1) STRUTTER KISS NOTHIN' TO LOSE KISS FIREHOUSE KISS COLD GIN KISS LET ME KNOW KISS KISSIN' TIME KISS DEUCE KISS 100,000 YEARS [10万年の彼方] KISS BLACK DIAMOND KISS GOT TO CHOOSE KISS PARASITE KISS GOIN' BLIND KISS HOTTER THAN HELL KISS Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll KISS ALL THE WAY KISS WATCHIN' YOU KISS COMIN' HOME KISS ■KISS 特集 (2) ROOM SERVICE KISS ROCK BOTTOM KISS C'MON AND LOVE ME [激しい愛を] KISS SHE [彼女] KISS LOVE HER ALL I CAN [すべての愛を] KISS ROCK AND ROLL ALL NITE KISS Detroit Rock City KISS King Of The Night Time World (暗黒の帝王) KISS God Of Thunder (雷神) KISS Flaming Youth (燃えたぎる血気) KISS Shout It Out Loud (狂気の叫び) KISS Beth KISS DO YOU LOVE ME KISS CALLING DR. LOVE (悪魔のドクター・ラヴ) KISS MR. SPEED (情炎！ミスター・スピード) KISS HARD LUCK WOMAN KISS MAKIN' LOVE (果てしなきロック・ファイヤー) KISS ■KISS 特集 (3) I WANT YOU (いかすぜあの娘) KISS TAKE ME (燃える欲望) KISS LADIES ROOM (熱きレディズ・ルーム) KISS I Stole Your Love [愛の謀略] KISS Christine Sixteen KISS Shock Me KISS Tomorrow And Tonight KISS Love Gun KISS Hooligan KISS Plaster Caster KISS Then She Kissed Me KISS ROCKET RIDE KISS I WAS MADE FOR LOVIN' YOU (ラヴィンユーベイビー) KISS 2,000 MAN KISS SURE KNOW SOMETHING KISS MAGIC TOUCH KISS ■KISS 特集 (4) TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME PAUL STANLEY MOVE ON PAUL STANLEY HOLD ME, TOUCH ME (THINK OF ME WHEN WE'RE APART) PAUL STANLEY GOODBYE PAUL STANLEY RADIOACTIVE GENE SIMMONS SEE YOU TONITE [今宵のお前] GENE SIMMONS LIVING IN SIN [罪] GENE SIMMONS WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR [星に願いを] GENE SIMMONS RIP IT
    [Show full text]
  • Gay and Transgender Communities - Sexual And
    HOMO-SEXILE: GAY AND TRANSGENDER COMMUNITIES - SEXUAL AND NATIONAL IDENTITIES IN LATIN AMERICAN FICTION AND FILM by Miguel Moss Marrero APPROVED BY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: __________________________________________ Michael Wilson, Chair __________________________________________ Adrienne L. McLean __________________________________________ Robert Nelsen __________________________________________ Rainer Schulte __________________________________________ Teresa M. Towner Copyright 2018 Miguel Moss Marrero All Rights Reserved -For my father who inspired me to be compassionate, unbiased, and to aspire towards a life full of greatness. HOMO-SEXILE: GAY AND TRANSGENDER COMMUNITIES - SEXUAL AND NATIONAL IDENTITIES IN LATIN AMERICAN FICTION AND FILM by MIGUEL MOSS MARRERO BA, MA DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The University of Texas at Dallas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HUMANITIES THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS August 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Latin American transgender women and gay men are part of my family. This dissertation is dedicated to them. It would have not been possible without their stories. I want to give my gratitude to my mother, who set an example by completing her doctoral degree with three exuberant boys and a full-time job in mental health. I also want to dedicate this to my father, who encouraged me to accomplish my goals and taught me that nothing is too great to achieve. I want to thank my siblings who have shown support throughout my doctoral degree. I also want to thank my husband, Michael Saginaw, for his patience while I spent many hours in solitude while writing my dissertation. Without all of their support, this chapter of my life would have been meaningless.
    [Show full text]
  • The Time Has Come, for You to Lip-Sync, for Your Identity: Bridging the Queer
    The Time Has Come, For You to Lip-Sync, For Your Identity: Bridging the Queer Gap Between Theory and Practice Thesis RMA Musicology Vera van Buren (5539307) Feb- Aug 2019 RMA Musicology | Supervisor: Dr. Olga Panteleeva | Second reader: Dr. Judith Peraino Abstract The humanities seem to want to specialize in capturing the human experience in their socio-cultural context. It seems, however, that throughout the past decades, certain experiences are harder to academically pin down than others. The critique posed by queer people on queer theory is one example of this discrepancy. Judith Butler, Maggie Nelson, Sara Ahmed and Crystal Rasmussen are some authors who intellectually capture the experience of queerness. Especially Butler has received critique throughout her career that her description of queerness had very little to do with the real-lived experience of queer people. But, her work showed seminal in the deconstruction of gender identity, as did the works by the other mentioned authors. Despite the important works produced by these authors, it is still difficult to find academic works that are written with a ‘bottom-up’ approach: where the voices of oppressed groups are taken for the truth they speak, while academic references are only there to support their claims. In this thesis, I utilize this ‘bottom-up’ approach, testing through my case study—namely, the experiences of Dutch drag queens, specifically how they experience topics around lip-sync performances—to what extent their lived experience is in accordance with the theoretical works by which they are framed. Through interviews with Dutch drag queens, by attending drag shows, and by critically reviewing academic literature, I will test the discrepancy, or parallel, between the theory, and practice.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study Exploring the Agency of Black Lgbtq+ Youth In
    A CASE STUDY EXPLORING THE AGENCY OF BLACK LGBTQ+ YOUTH IN NYC’S BALLROOM CULTURE By Shamari K. Reid Dissertation Committee: Professor Michelle Knight-Manuel, Sponsor Professor Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz Approved by the Committee on the Degree of Doctor of Education Date 19 May 2021 . Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Teachers College, Columbia University 2021 ABSTRACT A CASE STUDY EXPLORING BLACK LGBTQ+ YOUTH IN NYC’s BALLROOM CULTURE Shamari K. Reid Recognizing the importance of context with regard to youth agency, this study explores how 8 Black LGBTQ+ youth understand their practices of agency in ballroom culture, an underground Black LGBTQ+ culture. Ballroom was chosen as the backdrop for this scholarly endeavor because it allowed for the study of the phenomenon — Black LGBTQ+ youth agency — in a space where the youth might feel more able to be themselves, especially given that the 2019 Black LGBTQ+ youth report published by the Human Rights Campaign revealed that only 35% of Black LGBTQ+ youth reported being able to “be themselves at school” (Kahn et al., 2019). Thus, instead of asking what is wrong with schools, this study inverted the question to explore what is “right” about ballroom culture in which Black LGBTQ+ youth might practice different kinds of agency due to their intersectional racial and LGBTQ+ identities being recognized and celebrated. Framed by the youth’s understanding of their own agency across different contexts, my research illuminates the complex interrelationships between youth agency, social identity, and context. Extending the literature on youth agency and Black LGBTQ+ youth, the findings of this study suggest that in many ways these youth are always already practicing agency to work toward different ends, and that these different end goals are greatly mediated by the contexts in which they find themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Sharing Economies and Affective Labour in Montréal's Kiki Scene
    SERVING EACH OTHER: SHARING ECONOMIES AND AFFECTIVE LABOUR IN MONTRÉAL’S KIKI SCENE by Jess D. Lundy A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In Women’s and Gender Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2019, Jess D. Lundy Abstract Against a tense socio-political backdrop of white supremacy, intensifying pressures of neoliberal fiscal austerity, and queer necropolitics, this thesis addresses performance-based activist forms of place-making for urban-based queer, trans, and gender nonconforming communities of colour. Using participant observation and qualitative interviews with pioneering members of Montréal’s Kiki scene and Ottawa’s emerging Waacking community and interpreting my findings through the theoretical lens of queer of colour theory, critical whiteness studies, queer Latinx performance studies and Chicana feminism, I argue that Kiki subculture, which is maintained by pedagogical processes of ‘each one, teach one’, is instrumental in facilitating i) life-affirming queer kinship bonds, (ii) alternative ways to simultaneously embody and celebrate non- normative gender expression with Black, Asian, and Latinx identity, iii) non-capitalist economies of sharing, and iv) hopeful strategies of everyday community activism and resilience to appropriative processes during economic insecurity and necropolitical turmoil. ii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the members of Montréal’s Kiki scene and Ottawa’s Waacking founder for their willingness to participate in this study despite the understandable reflex to safe-guard their own. Secondly, I extend my sincerest gratitude to my thesis supervisor Dr. Dan Irving. Apart from disproving that you should never meet your heroes, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Overview of Surgical Techniques in Gender-Affirming Genital Surgery
    208 Review Article Overview of surgical techniques in gender-affirming genital surgery Mang L. Chen1, Polina Reyblat2, Melissa M. Poh2, Amanda C. Chi2 1GU Recon, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 2Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Los Angeles, CA, USA Contributions: (I) Conception and design: ML Chen, AC Chi; (II) Administrative support: None; (III) Provision of study materials or patients: All authors; (IV) Collection and assembly of data: None; (V) Data analysis and interpretation: None; (VI) Manuscript writing: All authors; (VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors. Correspondence to: Amanda C. Chi. 6041 Cadillac Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90034, USA. Email: [email protected]. Abstract: Gender related genitourinary surgeries are vitally important in the management of gender dysphoria. Vaginoplasty, metoidioplasty, phalloplasty and their associated surgeries help patients achieve their main goal of aligning their body and mind. These surgeries warrant careful adherence to reconstructive surgical principles as many patients can require corrective surgeries from complications that arise. Peri- operative assessment, the surgical techniques employed for vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, metoidioplasty, and their associated procedures are described. The general reconstructive principles for managing complications including urethroplasty to correct urethral bulging, vaginl stenosis, clitoroplasty and labiaplasty after primary vaginoplasty, and urethroplasty for strictures and fistulas, neophallus and neoscrotal reconstruction after phalloplasty are outlined as well. Keywords: Transgender; vaginoplasty; phalloplasty; metoidioplasty Submitted May 30, 2019. Accepted for publication Jun 20, 2019. doi: 10.21037/tau.2019.06.19 View this article at: http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tau.2019.06.19 Introduction the rectum and the lower urinary tract, formation of perineogenital complex for patients who desire a functional The rise in social awareness of gender dysphoria has led vaginal canal, labiaplasty, and clitoroplasty.
    [Show full text]
  • Judith Butler and a Pedagogy of Dancing Resilience Joshua M
    Judith Butler and a Pedagogy of Dancing Resilience Joshua M. Hall The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Volume 54, Number 3, Fall 2020, pp. 1-16 (Article) Published by University of Illinois Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/760813 [ Access provided at 9 Oct 2020 19:39 GMT from California State University @ San Marcos ] Judith Butler and a Pedagogy of Dancing Resilience JOSHUA M. HALL Abstract. This essay is part of a larger project in which I construct a new, historically informed, social justice–centered philosophy of dance, centered on four central phenomenological constructs, or “moves.” This essay, in particular, is about the fourth move, “resilience.” More specifically, I explore how Judith Butler engages with the etymological aspects of this word, suggesting that resilience involves a productive form of madness and a healthy form of compulsion, respectively. I then conclude by showing how “resilience” can be used in the analysis of various Wittgensteinian “families” of dance, which, in turn, could facilitate positive educational changes in philosophy, dance, and soci- ety, with particular efficacy on the axis of gender. In brief, by teaching a conception of strength as vulnerability (instead of machismo’s view of strength as apathetic “toughness”), a pedagogy of dancing resil- ience provides additional support for feminists (including Anzaldúa, Haraway, Butler, and Concepción) who advocate a cautious openness toward seemingly unlikely resources and allies (including analytic methodologies, Machiavellian politics, and the discourses of the natu- ral sciences). This article is part of a larger project in which I suggest, based on eighteen years of experience as a dancer and choreographer, a historically informed philosophy of dance built around four central concepts, or “moves.”1 Joshua M.
    [Show full text]